Private Tour
8-Day Private Yunnan Tour to Kunming, Dali, Lijiang and Shangri-La
Overview
Available languages
192 hours
Mobile ticket
This private tour packages covers the most interesting facets of Yunnan Province. Highlights include Kunming’s geological wonder the Stone Forest; Dali Old Town, the former political, cultural and economic center of Yunnan; Lijian Old Town, for 800 years home to the Naxi ethnic minority and Pudacuo National Park, a protected wetlands area in Shangri-La (Zhongdian).
Additional Info
Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
Please wear comfortable walking shoes
A minimum of 2 people per booking is required
Cancellation Policy
All sales are final. No refund is available for cancellations.
What To Expect
Kunming Airport Pick-up, Golden Temple, and Green Lake Park
Accommodations
Cachet Boutique Kunming Artime (4 stars)
When you arrive at Kunming Changshui International Airport, you will meet your guide at the arrival hall and be escorted to your hotel in the downtown area for check-in.
Kunming Golden Temple
After a short rest, you will proceed to the Golden Temple, a Taoist temple situated on the Mingfeng Hill. This 400-year-old temple features its bronze structures, which dazzles in the sunlight and the beautiful natural landscapes.
Then you will take a leisurely stroll in the centrally located Green Lake Park to enjoy the local peaceful lifestyle and immerse yourself in the picturesque scenery with the sound of seagulls
Zhuanxin Famers' Market and Stone Forest, Kunming to Dali by Bullet Train
Accommodations
Dali Iridescent Clouds Hotel (4 stars)
Food and Drinks
BREAKFAST
Breakfast
Zhuanxin Wet Market
Today your private tour will begin with a visit to the Zhuanxin Famers' Market, the largest marketplace in Kunming. Roaming around this place, you will get an impression of local people's daily life, since every day thousands of people come here to buy fruits, vegetables, meats, etc.
Then you will head to the Stone Forest, a typical model of China's Karst landforms. The stones in interesting shapes, such as animals and plants, will provide you with a memorable experience.
Dali
After, your guide will transfer you to the railway station and instruct you to board the high speed train to Dali, which takes around 2 hours on the way. Our guide based in Dali will pick you up on your arrival and escort you to the hotel in the primitive Dali Ancient City.
Dali
Accommodations
Dali Iridescent Clouds Hotel (4 stars)
Food and Drinks
BREAKFAST
Breakfast
Dali Ancient
Begin the Dali exploration with a visit to Dali Ancient City, which can date back to the Ming Dynasty in 1382. It is a good place to learn about the local lifestyle and culture by a wander along the markets and meeting the local people in their ethnic costumes.
Chongsheng Three Pagodas
Then you will continue to the Three Pagodas, which sits in Chongsheng Temple and faces the mirror-like Erhai Lake. These 1,800-year-old pagodas are like a beautiful history book of Dali, which will show the visitors the development of Buddhism in Dali and the unique architectural style in China.
Erhai Lake
Later, enjoy some walking in the ecological corridor of the Erhai Lake accompanied by your guide. If interested, the guide will leave you with some free time to enjoy the fun of cycling along the Corridor. He or she will assist you to rent a bicycle at your own cost and inform you the best biking route. Afterward, you will be transferred back to your hotel.
Dali to Lijiang by Private Car
Accommodations
Duofu Resort (4 stars)
Food and Drinks
BREAKFAST
Breakfast
Ancient Architecture of Bai Nationality, Xizhou
Today a 3-hour drive will take you to Lijiang. On the way, you will pay a visit to the Bai Minority Traditional Houses in Xizhou. The layout of these houses is distinctive with the features of wood and stone carvings and paintings on lime powdered walls. Xizhou is the place where the best and most of Bai Minority Traditional Houses are preserved.
Zhoucheng Village
Then you will continue to the nearby Zhoucheng Village, where you will visit the traditional hand-made Tie Dyeing, in the local people's home.
Old Town of Lijiang - China
Upon arrival at Lijiang, you will first check in at your hotel in the old town. After a short rest, your tour guide will take you to visit the Square Street of Lijiang Old Town. The street is paved by the local bluestones, with numerous souvenir shops, unique bars, and delicate restaurants scattered around. The most charming part of the street is at night. When red lanterns along the street are all lit up, all people here including tourists will enjoy relaxing but exciting nightlife.
Baisha Village, A Local Naxi family, Baisha Murals, Black Dragon Pool Park, and Dongba Cultural Museum
Accommodations
Duofu Resort (4 stars)
Food and Drinks
BREAKFAST
Breakfast
Lijiang Mural in Baisha Village
You will first explore the Baisha Village and visit a local Naxi family in the morning. You will learn more about the Naxi people's living habits and customs. Then you will proceed to visit Baisha Murals. These murals, combining the Han, Tibet, and Naxi culture together, are a wonderful art form of minorities in west Yunnan, and vividly unfold the life of the minority people to the visitors.
Then, you will pay a visit to the Former Residence of Dr. Joseph Rock in Yuhu village at the foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.
Black Dragon Pond Park
After that, you will visit the Black Dragon Pool Park (Jade Spring Park), an enormous park with beautiful landscapes and some ancient monuments.
Dongba Cultural Museum
Next, you will visit the Dongba Cultural Museum, which is an interesting folk cultural museum featuring Dongba culture preserved by Naxi People. By visiting this museum, you could learn more about this minority group.
Lijiang to Shangri-La by Private Car
Accommodations
The 5th Meteorite·Light-year Hotel (4 stars)
Food and Drinks
BREAKFAST
Breakfast
Old Town of Lijiang - China
Today you will be transferred to Shangri-La. On the way to Shangri-La, visit the First Bend of the Yangtze River and the Stone Drum Town. After that, your Lijiang guide will say goodbye to you, and the driver will escort you to the Tiger Leaping Gorge, where your Shangri-la guide will greet you and escort you to continue the visit. Later your Shangri-la guide will take you to check in at the hotel.
Shangri-La
Accommodations
The 5th Meteorite·Light-year Hotel (4 stars)
Food and Drinks
BREAKFAST
Breakfast
In the morning, you will first head to the biggest Tibetan Buddhist Temple in Yunnan, Songzanlin Temple. This temple collects the elite of Tibetan religious culture and presents splendid architecture. Because of its similar appearance and layout to the Potala Palace in Lhasa, it is also reputed as 'small Potala Palace'.
Potatso National Park
Then, you will travel to the breathtaking scenery in Potatso National Park. The Shudu Lake inside is one of the largest plateau lakes in Shangri-La with an altitude of over 3,700 meters (12,140 feet) and it’s the most beautiful part of Potasto. After enjoying the beautiful natural scenery, you will visit a local Tibetan family to get involved in the Tibetan people's lifestyle.
Departure from Shangri-La, Airport See-off
Food and Drinks
BREAKFAST
Breakfast
After breakfast, your tour guide will escort you to the Shangri-La airport on time for your departure flight. We wish you a nice trip!
What‘s Included
Transport by private air conditioned vehicle
Professional private tour guide
Entrance fees to tourist sites
Accommodation based on twin-sharing room as per itinerary
Two bottled waters per person, per day
Gratuities
China Visa Fee
International airfares
Peak season surcharge (public holiday, July & August, etc.)
Pickup points
Kunming Airport
Guandu Kunming China
Options
8-Day Private Yunnan Tour to Kunming, Dali, Lijiang and Shangri-La
Pickup included
Reviews
7 reviews
Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor
Kina, an excellent communicator with endless patience for trip planning
SlowWalkerY,,Oct 8, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00It started more than five years ago. In early 2020, we established a month-long China travel plan for April 2020 with Kina, the best travel consultant at Travel China Guide. Unfortunately, we had to cancel the whole plan due to what is known now as Covit-19. A few months ago, I found the emails that I exhanged with Kina, and I was very happy to learn that she was still working at Travel China Guide and remembered us. We do not know how many times we changed our itinerary until we finally decided to start our Yunnan tour on September 12 from Kunming. Kina was alway prompt to give us postive replies no matter how many times we changed our plans with endless patience, and she arranged excellent guides for us for the tour, although one of the three guides could barely communicate with us in English. Due to our old age, we were not able to visit Shang-rila, but we enjoyed the unique cultural heritage of Yunnan.
Travel with travel China guide
pilarcL5435JG,,Jun 8, 2025
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00The trip was well organized, we visited the places previously agreed. As always you traveled with this agency very good hotels The very good guides nice, doing their best to comply with what we asked. Thanks to Scarlett, Dali, Claire Chengdu, Lulu Kunming (the driver Jack Lee) Alice Lijiang Peter Sangri-la Thanks to Amy for organizing everything so well
Beautiful Yunnan trip
128vanl,,Nov 27, 2024
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00This trip to Yunnan was one of my most memorable trip traveling together with my family. We visited Kunming, Dali, Lijiang and Shangri-la. Each town has its own unique charm and character. The scenery is just breathtaking at every stops. From Kunming, we traveled to Hongtudi famous for its stunning and colorful mountainous scenery. In Dali, we learned about the local artistic embroidery. Unfortunately we did not get to see much in Erhai Lake due to the rainy weather. In Lijiang we visited Yulong (Jade Dragon) snow mountain and were glad we made it to the Yak alpine meadow at an elevation around 3700m. We also had the opportunity to spend some time with a Naxi family. In Shangri-la, we visited a Tibetan family and learned about their culture and and tried the yak milk tea. There were just too many unforgettable moments to mention. Many thanks to our travel consultant Amy Jian at Travel China Tour Guide to set up this trip for us.
Would love to return to Yunnan in the near future.
Karen L,,Nov 7, 2024
- Review from Tripadvisor
4.00Cool weather when we were there. From Dali to Lijiang , there’s many ancient cities , we like Shuhe the most, less crowded . As for Yulong Snow Mountain, our time up there is too short, wasted a lot of time just to queue up. Overall it was a good trip, highly recommend using Travel China Guide. Ms Amy Jian is our coordinator for this trip, efficient and responsive.
I recently took a fantastic 9 day tour to Yunnan Province. The experience was truly unforgettable.
micheledale1,,Oct 30, 2024
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00After a lot of email correspondence I would like to thank Sally Si for arranging a wonderful seamless bespoke itinerary for our tour of the Yunnan province that was within my budget. Our hotels we of a good standard also our guides were friendly knowledgeable and very helpful nothing was too much trouble. I would definitely recommend using this company. My only concern was paying by bank transfer instead of credit card but it worked out fine and I received an invoice immediately after they received my payment so I will definitely use Travel China Guide again in the future.
Best Yunnan Guide!
joycehocf,,Jul 4, 2024
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00We booked a 7 day 6 nights private tour for the 5 of us covering Kunming, Dali, Lijiang and Shangrila. In Dali, we were greeted by Xiao Tang, our driver cum guide. He was very friendly and helpful, offering recommendations for places to eat that were not the usual tourist spots. In Lijiang, we had to cycle along the coastline to cover a bigger area faster but 1 of my colleagues was too old to cycle so he offered to take him as a pillion rider in a 2-cyclist bicycle even though Xiao Tang had not cycled for a decade. When I had very bad altitude sickness in Shangrila, he used his break time to source for canned oxygen for me. When most drivers drop-off their customers at 6pm, Xiao Tang would send us to our preferred restaurants for dinner then send us to wherever we want to go after that. He would brief us on the programme for the day and see to the arrangements for our daily accommodation. In Shangrila, he brought us to the home of a local who harvested Chinese herbs themselves from the mountains. Hence, we got to buy quality herbs at very good prices because there was no middleman involved. We paid only CNY2,700 each for our 7 day private tour which includes airport transfers, hotel accommodation with breakfast, tickets to tourist attractions, first class seat train tickets and 7 seater car with driver. If you're looking for a trip with more unusual, non-touristy spots, look for Xiao Tang to customise one for you I'd say Xiao Tang made our trip very enjoyable with his attention to our individual preferences. Highly recommend his service. His Wechat ID is LX1993092. He only speaks Chinese though.
A family from Poland on trip to China
Krzych58,,Sep 16, 2019
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00We have arrived to Lijiang directly from raw and grey landscape of Tibet. Our guide, Daniel from travelchinaguide.com welcomed us at the airport with big and warm smile, and in excellent English gave us the general info about Yunnan province and took us to the hotel in the middle of the old town. It looked a bit commercial nowadays, but still you can smell the atmosphere of old trading towns. Silver, fruits, jade, the art next to the junk... Just beautiful. And next day we went to visit traditional Naxi people embroidery school. This is a must for anybody sensitive to the beauty of hand made art. Two pieces of the embroidery art are now hanging on the wall of our Warsaw apartment. And the Lijiang adventure was coronated by a nature trip to Jade Dragon Mountain. After visiting the emerald meadow, Daniel lead us along the river for a nice stroll. On top, after we were already back to Poland it turn out that we needed an extra document from China to clear our embroidery at the customs. We asked Daniel to help us to solve the problem and Daniel acted immediately. Thanks for your help Daniel, thank you travelchinaguide.com!
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